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CNN) -- Dramatic photographs have emerged, showing one of the few remaining peoples on earth thought to have had no contact with the outside world.
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Indians are photographed during an overflight in May 2008, as they react to the overflight at their camp.
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Taken from a small airplane, the photos show men outside thatched communal huts, necks craned upward, pointing bows toward the air in a remote corner of the Amazonian rainforest. The men appear strong and healthy, and they apparently live with families in six communal shelters known as malocas, the Brazilian government said.

The photos were taken during 20 hours of flights conducted between April 28 and May 2.

The National Indian Foundation published the photos Thursday on its Web site. The Brazilian government agency tracks "uncontacted tribes" -- indigenous groups thought to have had no contact with outsiders -- and seeks to protect them from encroachment. The government has tracked at least four uncontacted groups in the region for the last 20 years.

More than 100 uncontacted tribes remain worldwide. About half live in the remote reaches of the Amazonian rainforest in Peru or Brazil, near the recently photographed tribe, according to Survival International, a nonprofit group that advocates for the rights of indigenous people.

"All are in grave danger of being forced off their land, killed or decimated by new diseases," the organization said Thursday.

Its director, Stephen Cory, said the new photographs highlight the need to protect uncontacted people from intrusion by the outside world. Video Watch some of these photos »
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"These pictures are further evidence that uncontacted tribes really do exist," Cory said in a statement. "The world needs to wake up to this, and ensure that their territory is protected in accordance with international law. Otherwise, they will soon be made extinct."

Illegal logging in Peru is threatening several uncontacted groups, pushing them over the border with Brazil and toward potential conflicts with about 500 uncontacted Indians living on the Brazilian side, Survival International said.

Teaos wrote:I remember reading about tribes in the pacific worshipping American GI's since they had all the equioment they brought with them that they had never seen before.

Teaos wrote:Stil that contact will hardly change their culture.

GK wrote:Cargo Cults. Years after WW II was over people went back to the islands and found that the natives had built model planes and hangars. They thought that if they worshipped long and hard enough the "gods" would return. Quite amazing really.